It seems a universal rule that all great people are forged out of great adversity. Astrid is no exception to the rule. Before she was even conceived, there were hardships awaiting.

Blanca, Astrids mother, was a beautiful, confident read headed woman. She had married the love of her life, and together they were raising three little girls. Her husband was a successful lawyer who traveled throughout Mexico. One day, the family decided to take a trip. They were driving down the highway when a trailer truck unexpectedly invaded their lane, making a head on collision with the family vehicle.

Days later, Blanca awoke from her coma.

"Where is my husband, where are my children?" she implored the nurses.

"Were very sorry. We did all we could," they explained "but, one of your daughters is still alive. She only had a foot injury."

Blancas heart was torn right out of her. In one brief moment, she had lost it all. Her husband and her two daughters, gone. So it was, that at twenty eight years of age, Blanca had become a widow.

By the time Blanca and her little girl were released from the hospital, they had accumulated a huge, medical debt. They could not press charges against the trailer truck company because the accident report had mysteriously disappeared. Her story ran on national news, but according to legal experts, the accident never happened. With a grieving heart, Blanca had to gather the pieces of her life and move on. She sold property. She downsized. She tried to start a business. Every moment after the accident became a dark and bitter undertaking. Loneliness crept up on her.

A few years later, Blanca entered a passionless relationship in an attempt to reclaim some kind of life. It seemed fruitless; she had already known true love. No one would ever measure up. There was one thing, though, that would forever change Blancas life. The empty relationship brought forth an unexpected pregnancy. A feeling Blanca thought she would never experience again. After having survived the loss of her loved ones, she was gifted with life once again. A new beginning. A fresh start. A new child.

Now Blanca was faced with a choice; to commit to a man, with whom she had no passion for, or to go on and make a life on her own. She spoke to her boyfriend. He too, lacked the ardor he had hoped to find with her. Together, they decided it was best to separate and move on. Strangely, this brought peace to Blancas heavy heart.

This was the world unto which Astrid had entered. Financial crisis seemed to always follow the family and threaten Astrids future. Nevertheless, she and her mother always surfaced. Astrid had grown up making a way for herself and never giving up. When there was a challenge, there was a fight. A fight that would always be won.

Law was a great passion of Astrids, which must have been passed through her fathers genes. She was determined to go to law school, no matter what the cost. Semester by semester, she accomplished good grades and somehow managed to pay the tuition. She excelled and even became Student Government President.

With only one year left in her studies, tuition payments had become more difficult to make. Time was working against her and she had a number of choices to make. Astrids job had yielded nothing, since most of her money went into transportation. The only way to make enough money for college was to find a new job, and find it quickly. She could also take a break from school and study English, abroad. Then, there was always the possibility that money could miraculously come in at the last minute. The idea sounded crazy, as it always did; but then again, it always happened.

None of these options seemed easy. A new job that could pay enough was not easy to come by. Leaving her country was also something she was not prepared to do; but Astrid was tired of fighting, tired of making a path where there was none. Sometimes she secretly wished that she could just have things easy, like the rest of the girls that she knew. But this was not the life Astrid was called to live. She was an over comer, and overcome she would. Choices would have to be made, and decisions would be carried out. The following week would be a crucial one for her. It would determine the path for her future, which at the moment, seemed so uncertain.

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW

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